On Screen

March 23 - 29, 2019—3 The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN March 23 - 29, 2019 — 3 2 x 3.5" ad a) greene cnty farmers b) swango's 2 x 4" ad williams electric 2 x 1.5" ad ymca 2 x 1.5" ad doughty stevens By Jay Bobbin Vampires have meant big business on television. Reaching back to "Dark Shad- ows" and progressing through "The Vampire Diaries" and "True Blood," dwellers of the night have put their bite on popular shows. Now hop- ing for a similar effect is "What We Do in the Shadows," FX's take on a 2014 New Zealand "mockumentary" that premieres Wednesday, March 27. Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, the writers, directors and stars of the original movie, remain involved as executive producers and also in other ways: Clement ("Flight of the Conchords") wrote the series pilot, which Waititi ("Thor: Ragn - arok") directed. The saga sees a film crew follow several longtime — as in hundreds of years — roommates in Staten Is- land, N.Y., where the vampires have individual aims while pursuing their shared mission of conquering the world. Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Nastasia Demetriou and Harvey Guillen play the horror-comedy's central quartet, with Mark Proksch and Beanie Feldstein also among cast regulars. Describing the show's approach in discussing other creatures present in it, Clement says, "There are some werewolves in the series. They're not New Zealand werewolves. They're American, so they swear a bit more. They're East Coast and New York werewolves." Clement adds that the supernatural characters are affected by situations "that are happening in the moment, as well as stuff that happened 200 years ago that is in - forming how they react to the world now." After experiencing what it's like to make a Hollywood blockbuster, Waititi muses, "What happened to my career? It was really comfortable going back to ('Shadows') because we'd spent so long doing the film. And we edited the film for about 14 months, so we lived in that world for what seemed like an eternity. Going back on the set felt very natural; we're used to that style of working." However, Waititi allows that now "with ten episodes, we have full character development and a lot more." As much as the style of "What We Do in the Shadows" is well- planned, there's room for the unex - pected when the cameras are rolling. "There's some improvisation going on," co-star Proksch confirms. "We may be in a scene, and Kayvan will come up with something on the moment that we don't know that he's going to say, and it will be re - ally funny. That will always crack us up, so there's a lot of that type of situation." Feldstein notes, "My character doesn't really know these people, so she's really taking it in — and I was taking it in. As Beanie, I was like, 'These are the funniest people I've ever seen in my life.' And then as my character, I had to keep a straight face, which was very hard." Celebrity Scoop Celebrity Scoop 'What We Do in the Shadows' brings more vampires to TV Cover Story Cover Story By George Dickie Long days on set can be made shorter when you have cast mates you really enjoy spending time with. Such is the case for Jake Manley with Matt Frewer, his co-star in the horror/fantasy series "The Order," currently streaming on Netflix. "Oh man, he is just such a fun guy to work with," the 27-year-old native of Oakville, Ont., says of the classically trained former "Max Headroom" star who plays his grandfather. "Like he would catch me off guard so many times. And even as entrenched in a scene as I was, sometimes he would throw in a line at the end or do something and I would just burst out laughing and there was no stopping it. And even in between takes, he's just such a funny guy, like I don't think I've ever Checking in with Jake Manley laughed that much in so long ... so it was a pleasure for sure." In the series, Manley stars as Jack Morton, a blue-collar kid who gets accepted to a prestigious university and pledges to a secret society with a reputation for achievement. And that, he comes to find out, is because its members like to dabble in sorcery and shape-shift into various creatures to achieve its ends. Horror fans will delight at the plethora of monsters here, which in - clude a werewolf and a golem, with which Jack must do battle to inves- tigate several on-campus murders that appear to be of an otherworldly nature. Which made for some very active days for the actor. "There was a lot of running, a lot of falling, a lot of kind of fight choreography, which was great but definitely taxing in the beginning," Manley explains. "... It's hard to be that physical in all that denim." Name: Jake Manley Birth date: Aug. 23, 1991 Birthplace: Oakville, Ont. Current residence: Los Angeles Marital status: Single; in a re- lationship with actress Jocelyn Hudon ("The Strain") TV credits include: "3 Au- drey," "Beauty and the Beast," "Cracked," "Hemlock Grove," "Defiance," "Heroes Reborn," "American Gothic," "American God," "Casual," "iZombie," "Seven in Heaven," "Trollville," "Project Blue Book" Movie credits include: "Bad Hair Day" (TV, 2015), "Northpole: Open for Christmas" (TV, 2015), "Pregnant at 17" (TV, 2016), "Hush Little Baby" (TV, 2017), "A Dog's Journey" (forthcoming), "Hotwired in Suburbia" (forth- coming) Extracurricular activities: Is an avid skateboarder and surfer; involved in numerous children's and mental health initiatives in Canada One Y. One Community. Greene County YMCA 423-639-6107 www.greenecounty-ymca.org Doughty-Stevens Funeral Home 423-638-4141 www.doughty-stevens.com 1125 Tusculum Blvd. Greeneville, Tennessee Established 1892 Serving the community for 127 years! ❅ ❉ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❉ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❉ ❆ ❄ Portable And Wall Heaters Available in both 110 and 240 volt "Serving Your Complete Lighting Needs Since 1960" 3195 East Andrew Johnson Hwy. • (423)638-2241 Williams Electric Supply ❅ ❉ ❆ ❄ 240v Portable Heaters Portable, Fan-Forced 4,000 Watt Portable Heaters Williams Electric Supply Be - Ready - for COLD - Weather HEATER SALE! U 4 Z E E-Z PAY Select Our E-Z Pay Plan to make monthly payments for your Greeneville Sun subscription. Call today and say, "E-Z Pay, Please!" 423.638.4182 your hometown newspaper since 1879! The Greeneville Sun The Greeneville Sun

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